This page pertains to resources on the Bonifacio Letters put to auction last 3 March 2018 at the Leon Gallery. For more Bonifacio letters and documents, please visit Jim Richardson’s Katipunan site: http://www.kasaysayan-kkk.info/home

THIS IS THE FIRST SITE TO OFFER THE SCANS OF THE LETTERS IN THE POSSESSION OF EMMANUEL ENCARNACION BASED ON FACSIMILES IN THE BOOK “TRAGEDY OF THE REVOLUTION”

Bonifacio Presidential Letters: The most important historical collectibles

I WAS given a great opportunity to fulfill a long-time dream—to make the state documentary on the life of President Andres Bonifacio to be narrated by the iconic voice that inspired me to become a historian—Joonee Gamboa. On February 20, 2018, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and Red Root Artists and Artisans Cooperative will premiere “May pagasa: Ang Bantayog ni Andres Bonifacio” at the Museo ng Katipunan, Pinaglabanan, San Juan. The documentary will be made available to everyone for free via the NHCP YouTube.

The release of our documentary coincides with the announcement by Leon Gallery that they will be auctioning in five lots the Andres Bonifacio Presidential Letters from the Emmanuel Encarnacion Collection. The letters were used extensively in the Maypagasa documentary.

These four letters and an envelope bear the roundel escutcheon seal of Andres Bonifacio with the Baybayin “K” that emanates the light of freedom, like the sun with the words “Haring Bayang Katagalugan Kataas-taasang Kapulungan” (Sovereign Nation of the Tagalogs, Executive Cabinet) and his signature “Andres Bonifacio Maypagasa.” The different letters also tell us of his titles in the first national revolutionary government—P. (Pangulo) ng K. (Kataastaasan) Kapulungan (President of the Executive Cabinet), Ang K. (Kataastaasang) Plo. (Pangulo) (His Excellency, The President), and “Ang Plo. (Pangulo) ng H. B. (Haring Bayan) (The President of the Sovereign Nation). His appointment papers for Emilio Jacinto as General-in-Chief of the “Hilagaan” High Council of Manila dated April 15, 1897 is not just evidence of a Katipunan government which existed outside of Cavite at the time but also of the claim made by Andres Bonifacio that he founded the Katipunan. The letterhead reads “M. ANDRES BONIFACIO MAYPAGASA PANGULO NANG HARING BAYANG KATAGALUGAN, MAYTAYO NANG K. K. KATIPUNAN NANG MGA ANAK NANG BAYAN AT UNANG NAG GALAW NANG PANGHIHIMAGSIK.”

Aside from the envelope and the appointment papers, there were letters from Andres Bonifacio to Emilio Jacinto dated March 8, April 16 and April 24, 1897, written in the last weeks of his life where he related his feelings about the Cavite affair, which eventually led to his death. Each of the five items will be sold separately in an auction on March 3, 2018.

How did Emmanuel Encarnacion get the documents? Provenance shows that Epifanio de los Santos, the great historian, bought this from a relative of Emilio Jacinto. Even Gregoria de Jesus, the wife of Bonifacio, authenticated as being from husband the document, “Dekalogo ng Katipunan” that used to be with the letters. For 60 years, the family of De los Santos, including his son, Jose P. Santos, owned the documents and had photos of some of them published in different newspapers. Then they came into the possession of leading antique dealer Severina “Viring” de Asis, who legally sold two sets of the Jacinto and Bonifacio documents to Mariano Cacho (who got Bonifacio’s “Dekalogo,” “Acta de Tejeros” and a handwritten copy of the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”), and Emmanuel Encarnacion (who got the rest of the letters).

In fairness to collectors Cacho and Encarnacion, they made these documents available for free to researchers and allowed the publication of their contents and facsimiles to the general public for various uses, including children’s books on Bonifacio. These documents were used in the 1990s by Encarnacion, together with historians Milagros Guerrero and the late Ramon Villegas, to reconstruct the evidence that prove the existence of a national revolutionary government led by Andres Bonifacio, who rarely, if not never, signed himself as “Supremo.”

These documents, once doubted by Glenn May in his book Inventing a Hero: The Posthumous Re-Creation of Andres Bonifacio, is now verified as authentic by the documents in the recent book by Jim Richardson, The Light of Liberty, which sheds light on other Bonifacio papers at the Archivo General Militar de Madrid in Spain, bearing the same embellished handwriting, signature and seal.

Being just a few of the only ones that remain in the Philippines, the Bonifacio Presidential Letters is probably one of the—if not the—most important historical collectibles ever.

That said, I really wish that the government could afford to buy the documents to become part of the patrimony of the Filipino people. I am speculating that these were offered beforehand to government agencies. But since the documents were legally acquired, we hope that the ones who will eventually own these letters will not be foreigners, and that whoever will own them will decide to loan them to a museum. Because, as Encarnacion wrote, “This legacy is extremely important since it represents the birth of the Filipino nation, and our national heritage of the very first Filipino-run national government.”

For the words encoded in these relics—Haring Bayan—embodied our founding fathers’ imagination, when they first dreamed of a democratic nation—where the people have power.

Tomorrow, Leon Gallery will announce in a press conference that they will put into auction for 5 lots the different letters by President Andres Bonifacio written in the last weeks of his life.

The Bonifacio Presidential Letters bearing the seal and signature of Bonifacio, where he related his feelings about the Cavite affair, was once owned by the historian Epifanio de los Santos and came to the possession of Emmanuel Encarnacion.

These documents, once doubted by Glenn May, is now verified as authentic by the documents in the recent book by Jim Richardson, The Light of Liberty, which sheds light to other Bonifacio papers in Spain which bears the same flourished handwriting, signature, and seal.

Being just a few of the only ones that remain in the Philippines, the Bonifacio Presidential Letters is probably one of the, if not, the most important historical collectible ever.

Statement of the former custodian of the Bonifacio Presidential Letters Emmanuel Encarnacion on the auction of the papers today:

“Please tell them I am doing this as a SIGN OF PROTEST against people who think that government is a better custodian of National Treasures than many in the private sector.

“Government values restoration of churches & old buildings but does not give a damn of keeping Important National Treasures

“Yes. Now out of my hands. If FB people sincerely believe that government should have the Bonifacio Presidential Letters, they should bid on March 3 at Leon Gallery auction & have the privilige of donation.

“By selling the letters in the biggest auction house in town, President Andres Bonifacio will surely get his media mileage. Thank you everyone.”

As it appeared in the master’s thesis ANG MAYNILA NI IMELDA: Isang Kapanahong Kasaysayan ng Pagbabagong-Anyo ng Metropolitan Manila (1965-1986) that I finished in 2010 for his degree Master of Arts in History at the University of the Philippines Diliman. This bibiography is being published for the first time since requests for lists of Marcos books surged since this moring. Although it focuses on my topic which was Mrs. Marcos’s governance, it cites the most important books on the Marcoses. Raissa Robles’s book Marcos’ Martial Law: Never Again is the latest book on the period and with its scope, scoop and visuals is maybe one of the best after many years. A powerful personal narrative would be Susan Quimpo’s Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of Martial Law. A lot of activists memoirs came out after 2010 and this were not covered by this list. Historians had done their share in clarifying about the era. My three papers on the time including the top Google search “Tortyur is available here. In the bibliographic entries of those papers will be cited works on the People Power Revolution not included in this list, as well as more recent works beyond 2010.

__________. 2005c, 20 Hulyo. Talumpati sa Ika-7 Diliman Governance Forum na may temang “Metro Governance in the Philippines: In the Pink of Health or in the Brink of Collapse” (Ginanap sa National College of Public Administration, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas sa Diliman, Lungsod Quezon.)

__________. W.tn. Mothering: The Rising Spirit. W.p.: w.t.

__________. W.tn. “The New Human Order: Seven Portals to Infinity (Life, Work, and Immortality: Recovery of the Filipino Soul).” W.p.: w.t. (Maaaring sabihing inilathala ng Committee of the Propagation of the Filipino Ideology, Executice Working Group, c/o The President’s Center for Special Studies).

This article was published in Esquire Philippine edition, November 2015, 70-73. Reposted in celebration of Chinese New Year 2016. With gratitude to Editor-in-Chief Erwin Romulo.

LOOKING DOWN ON EACH OTHER:

The Filipinos and the Chinese, a History of Racism

This is not exclusive to the Chinese. Our telenovelas can attest to that.

By Xiao Chua

I am a Filipino with Chinese blood. My great grandfather who was pure Chinese married a Filipina, making me more Filipino than Chinese—I wasn’t able to acquire the culture and the language simply because I was raised by already Filipino parents. Yet recently, my historical articles in a network website were flooded by comments basically saying, “Why should I listen to him, he is Chinese?”

I have been doing public work for years now and it’s the first time I am confronted by this. I was shocked and hurt by this at first, since nothing is more important to me than my Filipino identity. It’s my only treasure.

A lot the racist sentiments understandably stem from the West Philippine Sea debacle. This is despite the fact that in the past few decades an educational campaign, largely made by Kaisa Heritage Center, had stated that the Chinese and the Filipinos with Chinese heritage in the Philippines are Tsinoys and Filipinos. They emphasized the Chinese in Philippine life and their contribution to the building of the nation—From the Chinese who traded with the ancient kingdoms of the Philippines, to the Sangleys who provided goods and services during the colonial period, in which we shared a painful history (i.e. Chinese massacres); the participation of the ethnic Chinese and the “Tsinoy,” in the struggle for freedom—during the Philippine Revolution and the Guerrilla Resistance Movement of the Pacific War; and the continued impact of the “Tsinoy” in the Philippine economy. They emphasized that “Tsinoys” are Filipinos.

Racial slurs against the Chinese and the Tsinoys are not new. An old cartoon reproduced by Ambeth Ocampo in his book Aguinaldo’s Breakfast and Other Looking Back Essays shows the “Apat na espesyalidades ng Mga Intsik,” presumably from the early 20th Century: “Para sumarap ang pancit lang-lang,” which shows a stereotypical Chinese guy with pig tail putting a cat in the soup; “Para sumarap ang tsokolate,” a Chinese guy sweats himself on the drink; “Para sumarap ang chicharon” and “Para sumarap ang tira-tira,” the Chinese guy spits on the food.

Seeing archive copies of local newspapers in Tarlac from the early 1970s made me realize that the intense nationalism and anti-colonial sentiment during that time were also directed to the Chinese in the Philippines. Political cartoons showed big Chinese figures taking over the islands, the bed and the dining table from small Filipino figures, with calls to uphold Philippine independence and patrimony from “aliens.”

It seems that we have been mean to the Chinese for quite some time.

But according to some Filipinos, the Chinese are also racist towards Filipinos. They pointed to the fact that traditional Chinese families refuse to intermarry with the local population, very similar to the Jews exclusivist attitude of not intermarrying with their host peoples in Europe, which eventually contributed to the anti-Semitic sentiment that would lead to the injustices and atrocities of the holocaust.

I asked my ethnic Chinese students if they were aware of this. China is not called China by the Chinese but Zhongguo, for Middle Kingdom. In the time of the emperors, the Chinese considered people from other lands as barbarians. I was asking them if this has something to do with their culture. They said they were unaware of this.

So if it’s not in their culture, could it be that this came as a reaction to centuries of negative racial attitudes not just by the Filipinos but by the Spaniards?

“You are right to say that the objection to intermarriage is partly a kind of defensive ethnocentrism that was reinforced by the historical racism Chinese experienced in the Philippines under Spanish rule.” Said Prof. Caroline S. Hau, professor at the Kyoto University and author of The Chinese Question: Ethnicity, Nation and Region In and Beyond the Philippines, but according to her there is a more compelling reason.

Answering my questions, she said that indeed the ethnic Chinese here have a sense that they are a separate and distinct “people” (lannang), so their “enclave” mentality. But this is actually a more recent phenomenon because the ethnic Chinese migrants, who for a long time were mostly men, intermarried a lot with the local population, giving rise to the large Chinese mestizo population in the country. If the Chinese were originally exclusivist, there would be no large portion of this country today exclaiming “I have Chinese blood.”

But China was wracked with turbulent historical occurrences from the late 19th century and for the next fifty years: the Chinese Revolution, the Civil War, the brutal Japanese occupation (1937-1945) and the communist takeover by 1949. Many of these Chinese migrants, which now included women, found haven in the Philippines. For the first time it became possible to produce “Chinese families.” According to Hau, “This trend also coincided with the rising Filipino and Chinese nationalisms (backed by state policies on citizenship, education, immigration, as well as popular attitudes toward ‘Chinese’ and ‘Filipinos’) that further hardened the ‘identities’ and ‘self-identification” of people who in earlier years would not have been so inflexible.”

But the more compelling reason for the “enclave” mentality was (and according to Hau plays “a more crucial role”) is class prejudice. The ethnic Chinese who had made a fortune would not want to marry their daughters with people of the lower class—“the anxieties seem to focus especially on, for example, fears regarding a daughter eloping with the family driver, or a son marrying a dancer or waitress and such.” In other words, to keep the money in the family. If that is so, then, this is not exclusive to the Chinese. Our telenovelas can attest to that.

Despite the resistance of a certain part of the ethnic Chinese population to intermarry, it continued to happen, especially among those who move out of the Chinese district of Binondo to have more chances of finding Filipino partners, the younger generation of parents with a more liberal attitude, or the Chinese who, in increasing numbers, had gone to university and as professionals get exposed to Filipino co-workers, and… fall in love. And then of course, in 1975, the state granted Filipino citizenship en masse to the Chinese population.

We Filipinos are offended when foreigners throw racist remarks our way. But we have to remind ourselves that we also have racist tendencies (toward the Indians or the blacks for example). And this ethnocentrism is shaped by history, policy and contemporary attitudes. Awareness that we are racist is the beginning of the solution. Avoiding racism shows our maturity as an individual and as a nation.

Speaking of the nation, it should not defined by race, but by the feeling of wanting to be part of that nation. I dream of one nation that is also more inclusive to the many cultures and ethnicities within it.

This book, originally written and compiled in 1999 to celebrate the homecoming of Miss Universe First Runner-up Miriam Quiambao, was written when the author was still fourteen years old.

The author went on to become a historian.

In 2009, the manuscript was encoded for a tenth anniversary edition for limited distribution.

Today, 23 January 2016, after 42 years, a Filipina comes home again wearing the crown of Miss Universe, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.

We are releasing again this book on this inspiring and beautiful day, along with the original scrapbook coming from different periodicals from that time that we had another homecoming that inspired the Filipinos just as well, seventeen years ago…